Validation of a Self-Regulated Foreign Language Learning Strategy Questionnaire Through Multidimensional Modelling

Development of a motivational regulatory strategy scale for Indonesian learners of Japanese

Opportunities for LOTE (Languages Other Than English) speakers to engage with their target language are limited, making it challenging to sustain motivation. The aim of this study is to develop and validate a scale for measuring motivational regulatory strategies among Japanese-language learners and investigate their relationship with motivational factors. This research specifically focuses on Indonesian learners of Japanese who have a non-Kanji (Chinese characters) background and are studying Japanese as a foreign language. The motivational regulatory strategies scale comprises six factors and has demonstrated adequate internal consistency and factor structure. The findings indicate a positive correlation between integrative motivation and these six strategies, suggesting that learners' integrative motivation may promote the adoption of these strategies. Furthermore, this study emphasizes the significance of the opportunity control strategy, where learners actively seek chances to expose themselves to their target language. Future research is recommended to implement the developed scale in educational settings. Conducting surveys that encompass learners from diverse cultural backgrounds and embarking on longitudinal studies should also be considered.

English as a foreign language learners’ strategy awareness across proficiency levels from the perspective of self-regulated learning metafactors

The previous three decades have seen a growing body of research into language learners’ self-regulated learning (SRL), language learning strategy (LLS) use, and their possible effects on proficiency. This study thus provides insights into the relationship between elementary and low intermediate learners’ perceptions of their self-regulated strategy use in English as a foreign language (EFL) and their attitude to English in relation to their proficiency level. Nine hundred and sixty-six higher proficiency students and 399 lower proficiency students in Year 8 participated in the research. A revised Self-Regulated Foreign Language Learning Strategy Questionnaire (SRFLLSQ), a version of Oxford’s Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL), was completed by the participants. Our findings shed light on higher proficiency learners’ significantly higher level of strategy use. Learners at higher levels relied more strongly on their metacognitive strategies, such as planning, organizing and monitoring their cognitive processes. Our analysis also showed a high correlation between the different factors of metastrategy use (metacognitive, meta-affective, metasocial, and metamotivational) and cognitive, affective, social, and motivational strategy use in relation to attitude and proficiency. A path analysis also reinforced our assumption that metafactors significantly determine learners’ proficiency across strategy use and attitude in both higher and lower-level students. The positive contribution of the metastrategies on their corresponding regulated strategy fields appeared to be robust, thus underlining recent LLS research that emphasizes the role of metafactors in the language learning process.

Exploring the Role of English as a Foreign Language Receptive Skills and Learning Strategy Usage in the Ability to Acquire and Apply Knowledge at the Beginning of Higher Education

Foreign language learning plays a prominent role in the world today not only for communication across borders, but also for the potential benefits of other learning skills. The main objective of this research is to examine and explore the relationship between first-year full-time undergraduate students' (N = 1,257) English as a foreign language (EFL) reading and listening achievement and learning strategy preferences in relation to knowledge acquisition and knowledge application. Our results show that students achieved significantly better on listening tasks than on reading tasks and that their knowledge acquisition performance was higher than their knowledge application achievement. The majority of the participants reported that they usually or always employ learning strategies, with the most preferred strategy type being the control strategy. The structural model shows that language learning, and knowledge acquisition and application are strongly interrelated; moreover, the level of use of memorization and elaboration strategies directly affects both knowledge acquisition and application skills. This suggests that EFL learning significantly influences the development of knowledge acquisition and knowledge application, which are essential in a range of areas in education and society today.

Investigating the Relationship Among English Language Learning Strategies, Language Achievement, and Attitude

The main objective of the study was to ascertain whether English as a Foreign Language learners with various levels of English language achievement differ significantly in applying foreign language learning strategies. We also aimed to explore strategy use frequency in connection with attitude toward English language learning. Data were collected from 1,653 lower secondary students in Hungary through a revised version of the previously developed online Self-Regulated Foreign Language Learning Strategy Questionnaire (SRFLLSQ) based on Oxford’s Strategic Self-Regulation (S²R) Model. The findings point to statistically significant differences in the frequency of English language strategy use among more and less proficient learners. Quantitative analyses also reported that, in spite of the students stated low or moderate levels of strategy use, it turned out as a statistically significant predictor of foreign language attitude and language achievement. The results draw attention to the relevance of strategy research in foreign language teaching as well as encourages strategy teaching within language instruction.

Self-Regulated Writing Strategy Use When Revising Upon Automated, Peer, and Teacher Feedback in an Online English as a Foreign Language Writing Course

Research investigating the intricacies of how self-regulated writing strategies are used in a finely focused area of the second language (L2) writing process is still lacking. This study takes a mixed-methods approach to explore Chinese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners' use of self-regulated writing strategies when revising based on automated, peer, and teacher feedback in an online EFL writing context. Thirty-six Chinese university learners filled in three questionnaires (one per feedback source). In addition, four learners followed a think-aloud protocol while revising and responding to a stimulated recall interview to provide further data. The results revealed that learners employed an array of self-regulated writing strategies to attain their feedback revision goals. Learners used more cognitive strategies when revising based on automated feedback compared with peer and teacher feedback and more motivational strategies when revising based on teacher feedback. The think-aloud data and stimulated recall interviews coincided with the quantitative findings. Textual analysis revealed that feedback type and quantity were associated with self-regulated writing strategy use.

Cognitive Strategies and Textual Genres in the Teaching and Evaluation of Advanced Reading Comprehension (ARC)

In the last decade, published data on the performance of Colombian students have concerned educators and researchers, making critical reading one of the priorities of Colombian education. That is why this article presents the results of a study carried out in a Latin American university in which the perceptions of students and professors are analyzed regarding the strategies and textual genres used to work and cross-evaluate the advanced reading comprehension (ARC). This study is materialized in the application of an ad hoc online questionnaire, in its two versions (students and teachers), designed through Survey Monkey. For this, it has the participation of 182 teachers and 2,775 students. There are several trends in the use of specific textual strategies and typologies to work and evaluate ARC, by both, depending on the department of assignment. The evidence found is provided and evaluated considering the implications for cross-curricular instruction and assessment in higher education in Latin America, including study limitations and prospects for overcoming them.

Designing and validating the learner autonomy perception questionnaire

The present study aimed to design and validate a questionnaire to investigate students' perceptions of learner autonomy in the context of Vietnamese tertiary education. The questionnaire was adapted from various well-established scales in the literature, and then the back-translation method was used to produce a version in Vietnamese. After the questionnaire development process, 1,565 non-English majors at seven different tertiary institutions in Vietnam voluntarily participated in the study and completed the questionnaire. Evidence of reliability and validity was provided for the instrument using SPSS Version 24, SmartPLS 3, and SPSS AMOS. Reliability was evaluated using Cronbach's alpha, composite reliability (CR), rho_A value, and average inter-item correlations. Validity was substantiated using Messick's framework of validity (1995). This entailed five different aspects: content, substantive, structural, external, and consequential. The results indicated that reliability reached adequate values and the aspects of validity were mostly confirmed. The questionnaire, therefore, was suited to exploring how students perceive learner autonomy, but it requires more validation for future use in the other contexts.

Cross-cultural differences in foreign language learning strategy preferences among Hungarian, Chinese and Mongolian University students

The present study explores English as a foreign language (EFL) learning strategies used in Hungarian, Chinese, and Mongolian university students with different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. A total of 519 university students participated in the survey from the three different countries. The Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL), developed by Rebecca Oxford (2003), was administered to explore cross-cultural differences in strategy use in the study. To explain cultural divergences, we employed Hofstede's 6-D model of cultural values. The study identified a number of cross-cultural similarities and differences in strategy use among these three groups. All the subsamples similarly preferred the use of metacognitive learning strategies; however, there were some significant differences among the countries. A significant difference was observed in cognitive language learning strategy usage for the Hungarian subsample compared to the Mongolian subsample. With regard to the affective field, we noticed that the Mongolian and Chinese students employed affective strategies significantly more frequently. The Hungarian students rated the use of affective strategies the lowest by comparison. These differences may be partly linked to the cultural traditions of the participating countries. Our findings also suggest that although students' cultural background is a significant factor, linguistic and educational background and teaching traditions are also crucial.

SELF-REGULATION IN QUR’AN LEARNING

Purpose – The emergence of academic anxiety and poor learning outcomes among Indonesian first-year students at higher education institutions emphasized the need to measure the level of self-regulated learning (SRL). This study was part of a larger SRL research project in the area of ​​learning Qur’an recitation, where we attempted to explore further on how students applied SRL. By using a new perspective of SRL as a social process that emphasized interaction, we investigated how the situated environment influenced learning.   Method – Quantitative and qualitative approaches were applied. A set of questionnaires generated from the adaptation process was successfully validated through rigorous psychometric testing. A total of 420 first-year students responded to the questionnaire. Then semi-structured observations and interviews were conducted among eight students. Finally, data obtained from observation checklists and interviews were triangulated.   Findings – The SRL level for first-year students in learning Qur’an recitation was insufficient, with a score of 3.37 out of 5.00. The highest score on the Meta-Affective dimension was M = 3.64, and the lowest score on the Sociocultural-Interactive dimension was M = 2.98. These results indicated that although anxiety was not a serious problem, yet it was still an obstacle for some students with low SRL to achieve targeted learning goals. Furthermore, these students did not have the awareness to seek help for their learning difficulties. This situation was further aggravated by the lack of assistance from instructors in creating conducive learning environments for students to interact with each other.   Significance – The standard deviations on all SRL dimensions identified in this study were high, showing a large gap between students who had high and low SRL. This condition requires instructors to provide significant assistance. We suggest heterogeneous grouping to enable more intensive interactions between students to increase the sociocultural-interactive dimension. We believe that seamless interaction is the most tangible support for promoting SRL.

Online Diagnostic Assessment in Support of Personalized Teaching and Learning: The eDia System

The aims of this paper are: to provide a comprehensive introduction to eDia, an online diagnostic assessment system; to show how the use of technology can contribute to solve certain crucial problems in education by supporting the personalization of learning; and to offer a general reference for further eDia-based studies. The primary function for which the system is designed is to provide regular diagnostic feedback in three main domains of education, reading, mathematics, and science, from the beginning of schooling to the end of the 6 years of primary education. The cognitive foundations of the system, the assessment frameworks, are based on a three-dimensional approach in each domain, distinguishing the psychological (reasoning), the application, and the disciplinary (curricular content) dimensions of learning. The frameworks have been carefully mapped into item banks containing over a 1,000 innovative (multimedia-supported) items in each dimension. The online assessments were piloted, and the system has been operating in experimental mode in over 1,000 schools for several years. This paper outlines the theoretical foundations of the eDia system and summarizes how results from research on the cognitive sciences, learning and instruction, and technology-based assessment have been integrated into a working system designed to assess a large population of students. The paper describes the main functions of eDia and discusses how it supports item writing, constructing tests, online test delivery, automated scoring, data processing, scaling and the provision of feedback both for students and teachers. It shows how diagnostic assessments can be implemented in school practice to facilitate differentiated instruction through regular measurements and to provide instruments for teachers to make formative assessments. Beyond its main function (supporting development toward personalizing education), the eDia platform has been used for assessments in a number of areas from pre-school to higher education both in Hungary and in a number of other countries as well. The paper also reviews results from eDia-based studies and highlights how technology-based assessment extends the possibilities of educational research by making more constructs measurable.